Bed sheet or other bed covering having two head portions

ABSTRACT

A sheet or other covering for a mattress, box spring, or the like, with the covering having a main portion which extends across the entire width of the bed toward its foot end, and having two narrower head portions for covering two separately elevatable halves or sections of the mattress or spring at its head end.

United States Patent Fragas Mar. 5, 1974 [54] BED SHEET OR OTHER BED COVERING 771,076 9/ 1904 Kintz 5/91 HAVING TWO HEAD PORTIONS 3,438,068 4/l-969 Anderson et al.... 5/334 R 2,689,961 9/1954 Lieberthal 4 i 5/334 R Inventor: Reshmto flg 7035 2,711,546 6/1955 Licht 5/334 R Templeton St., Huntington Park, Calif. 90255 Primary Examiner.lames T. McCall [22] Filed: 19! 1971 Assistant ExaminerAndrew M. Calvert [2i] Appl. No.: 135,057

52 US. Cl. 5/334 'c, 5/357 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl A47g 9/00 A Sheet or Other coverin f g or a mattress, box spring, [58] held of Search 297/220 229; 5/90 or the like, with the covering having a main portion 5/91 which extends across the entire width of the bed 334 335 toward its foot end, and having two narrower head portions for covering two separately elevatable halves [56] References C'ted or sectionsof the mattress or spring at its head end.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,228,948 1/1941 Field 297/229 5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures BED SHEET OR OTHER BED COVERING HAVING TWO HEAD PORTIONS Cross Reference to Related Application The mattress which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing has been disclosed and claimed in my copending application Ser. No. 60,570 filed Aug. 3, 1970 on Mattress Structure or the Like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improved sheets, mattress pads, and other coverings for mattresses, or to similar coverings for box springs or other bed structures.

In my above identified copending application, I have disclosed and claimed a mattress or other similar bed structure of a type having two separately elevatable halves or sections at its head end. That is, the main body of the mattress toward its foot end is relatively wide to extend across the entire width of the bed, but at the head end of the mattress it is divided into two halves or sections which are to be used separately by two different persons occupying opposite sides of the bed, and which are adapted to swing upwardly to inclined positions in which the upper portion of the users body is supported in a correspondingly inclined position for reading, viewing television, or the like. The division of the upper portion of the bed into two such separately adjustable head sections enables the two users of the bed to adjust their halves of the bed individually without bothering one another.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the provision of a unique type of covering for a mattress or box spring of the above discussed type, with the word covering being used generally as including sheets, mattress pads, mattress and spring covers, and the like. A covering embodying the invention is formed to have a first relatively wide portion for extension across the main portion of the mattress or spring toward its foot end, and two hcad portions which project from the main portion separately and are adapted to cover the two head sections respectively of the mattress or spring. Preferably,

the two head portions of the sheet or other covering are fitted separately about and thus retained tightly and closely on the two head sections of the mattress or spring to facilitate their upward and downward movement therewith. Connector straps or the like may extend across the undersides of the two head sections of the mattress or spring and connect together opposite sides of each head portion of the sheet or other covering to hold that head portion downwardly against the upper side of the mattress or spring. The main wider portion of the covering may also be fitted to or otherwise retained tightly and closely on the mattress.

A particular feature of the invention resides in the provision of a unique type of fitted corner for a sheet or other bed covering, which corner is formed in a very simple straightforward manner from a single piece of material cut and stitched in a novel manner, and which corner may be very conveniently shaped to curve progressively about the corner and fit closely a correspondingly rounded contour on a corner of a mattress.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The above and other features and objects of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the typical embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a sheet made in accordance with the invention and applied to a mattress of a type having two relatively adjustable head sections;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the FIG. 1 mattress showing the manner in which the sheet is secured thereto;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing in flattened form the two pieces of cut fabric from which the sheet of FIG. 1 is formed;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the manner in which one of the corners of the sheet is formed;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view showing the manner in which the inner sides of the two head portions of the sheet are formed; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing a quilted mattress pad embodying the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, I have shown at 10 a mattress of a unique type disclosed in my above identified copending application and which is divided at its head end into two halves or head sections 11 and 12 mounted for upward and downward inclining movement with respect to the main section 13 of the mattress. When the two head sections 11 and 12 are in their horizontal position of alignment with the main section 13 of the mattress, the overall mattress has an essentially conventional rectangular shape, with the two head sections 11 and 12 both being rectangular and being approximately in contact at the central vertical longitudinal plane 14 of the mattress. Each of these head sections occupies essentially one-half of the width of the mattress and of the main section 13, and is hinged with respect to main section 13 for upward swinging movement about a horizontal transverse axis 15 disposed perpendicular to plane 14. As described in my copending application, the mattress contains latching mechanism for releasably retaining each of the sections 11 and 12 in any of different upwardly inclined positions, and enabling movement of the two head sections separately relative to one another to different settings for use by two different persons using opposite sides of the bed. The mattress has edge walls 16 at its opposite sides 116 and 117 and its head and foot ends 118 and 119, all of which extend vertically in the horizontal full line condition of the mattress. In addition, the two head sections 11 and 12 have at their inner sides two parallel closely adjacent vertical inner edge walls 17 lying parallel to and closely adjacent the vertical central longitudinal plane 14 of the mattress.

The sheet 18 embodying the invention is shaped to fit closely about the top and edges or sides of the entire mattress 10, including all three of its sections 11, 12, and 13. More particularly this sheet may be considered as including a first or main portion 19 which covers the main section 13 of the mattress (up to the vertical plane of hinge line 15) and two'head portions 20 and 21 (beyond hinge line 15) which fit separately about and cover the two head sections 11 and 12 respectively of the mattress.

Preferably, the entire top and all of the downwardly extending edge portions of the sheet are formed of a single piece of cloth, with the exception of two vertical panels or edge walls 30 and 31 received adjacent one another at the inner sides of the head sections of the mattress. In FIG. 3, the main piece of cloth from which the sheet is formed is illustrated at 38 in its flattened condition as cut and before stitching. A second smaller strip of cloth for forming the side walls 30 and 31 of the head portions takes the form illustrated at 39, consisting merely of an elongated rectangular piece of material. The large piece of cloth 38 may be considered as having a main portion 40 which is rectangular and has a length dimension d and width dimension w to extend horizontally over the top of the entire mattress and form individual tops covering all three of the sections 11, 12, and 13 of the mattress. This rectangular portion contains a cut 41 extending longitudinally along the center of an end portion of the sheet 38, at a location to separate the two head portions and 21 of the sheet. The various vertical edge panels or por tions 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27 of the sheet may initially be formed as elongated rectangular panels 23, 24', 25', 26, and 27 which are foldable downwardly along lines 42 to vertically extending positions, and are connectible together at the corners of the various sections in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4.

The extrapiece 39 is stitched at its upper edge 139 (see FIG. 5) to the main piece of cloth 38 along both sides of the cut 41. That is, one end of the piece 39 may be stitched to the piece of cloth 38 commencing at the location 43 in FIGS. 3 and 5 and then advancing along edge 44 at the left side of cut 41 to the location 45, at which the cloth 39 is doubled back to extend along and be stitched to the return edge 46 up to the location 47 at which the second end of strip 39 is received. Thus, this single piece of material forms both of the inner side walls and 31 of head portions 20 and 21 of the sheet, leaving these walls or panels secured together at the doubled back location near hinge line 15. At the opposite ends of strip 39, that is, at the locations 43 and 47 of FIG. 3, this strip may be secured to panels 26' and 27 in a manner forming two corners substantially the same as the remaining corners of the mattress.

To describe now one of the specially formed corners as shown in FIG. 4, it is noted that at each of the six corners 32, 33, 34, 35, 36 and 37 of the sheet, the main top panel 40 of the sheet has an edge 48 which curves arcuately in correspondence with the curvature of the corners of the mattress itself. One of the edge panels which meets at that corner (for example panel 23' at corner 32 as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4) is elongated at 49 to project in the FIG. 3 flattened condition somewhat beyond arcuate corner edge 48, and has an inner edge 50 initially aligned with fold line 42 which is moved to a position in which it extends along and is then stitched arcuately to edge 48 so that the entire projecting portion 49 of panel 23' curves in correspondence with edge 48 and the mattress along the entire vertical height of the mattress corner. At its extremity portion 49 has an initially transverse end edge 51 which ultimately extends vertically and is stitched to a corresponding edge 52 of end panel 25 along the vertical seam line 53 of FIG. 4. Thus a closely fitting corner of the mattress is provided.

Along the lower edge 54 of the vertical side wall of the mattress, there is provided at each corner an elastic band 55 which is contained within a bottom seam and is long enough to extend entirely about the corner and a short distance in each direction beyond the corner, and which tends to elastically shorten edge 54 under the corner of the mattress in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2 to maintain the corner of the sheet in closely fitted condition about the mattress. The other three outer corners 33, 34, and 37 of the mattress may be identical with the corner 32 which has been discussed in detail above and shown in enlarged form in FIG. 4. Similarly, the two corners 35 and 36 at the inner sides of head portions 20 and 21 may be substantially the same as corner 32 except that the ends of the separate strip of material 39 are utilized to extend about the corners in lieu of the extension 49 of panel 23' at corner 32.

The elastic 55 which is received in the lower edge of each of the corner portions of the sheet is supplemented by two elastic straps 56 and 57 (see FIG. 2), which extend across the undersides of the two head sections 1 1 and 12 of the mattress at a location beneath hinge line 15, to hold head portions 20 and 21 of the sheet downwardly at that location. More particularly, elastic band 56 may be connected at one of its ends 58 to the side panel 23 of the sheet, and at its opposite end 59 to the downwardly extending side panel 31 at the inner side of head section 12 of the mattress. The elastic pulls on the two downwardly extending side walls at the connected locations 58 and 59 to hold the sheet tightly against the top of the mattress at that location. Similarly, elastic 57 is connected at its opposite ends 60 and 61 to the two downwardly extending side panels of the sheet at opposite sides of head section 11 of the mattress.

With regard to the preferred proportions and dimensions of the sheet, it may be noted that the main large portion 19 of the sheet is rectangular and desirably approximately square, with its dimension 1 longitudinally of the mattress typically being approximately equal to or slightly less than the dimension w transversely of the mattress. It is further noted that the dimension 1 should occupy substantially more than one-half of the total longitudinal dimension d of the sheet, preferably slightly more than two-thirds of that dimension. For example, if the overall mattress is of a size corresponding to a conventional queen size mattress, having a width w of 60 inches and a length d of inches, the dimension 1 of portion 19 of the sheet longitudinally of the mattress may be 55 inches, and the dimension e of the head portions 20 and 21 in the same longitudinal direction may be 25 inches. The transverse dimension f of each of the two head portions 20 and 21 of the sheet may be approximately equal to or very slightly greater than the dimension e, and in the case of each of the two head portions occupies approximately one-half of the transverse dimension w, the dimension f typically being 30 inches in a queen size mattress. From the limitations given with respect to the dimension 1 of portion 19, it will be apparent that the dimension e of the head portions 20 and 21 should be less than one-half of the length of the mattress, and preferably less than onethird of its length.

In positioning the sheet on the mattress, the two head portions 20 and 21 of the sheet may first be pulled over head sections 11 and 12, with elastic bands 56 and 57 received at the undersides of the head sections, and

with the elastic 55 at the corners 34, 35, 36, and 37 of the head portions being pulled slightly under the corresponding corners of the head sections of the mattress to fit closely thereabout. The main larger portion 19 of the sheet is then pulled downwardly about the main section 13 of the mattress, and fitted about its corners 32 and 33. In this condition, the entire sheet is held tightly about the mattress, and when the head sections 11 and 12 of the mattress are swung upwardly and downwardly relative to one another and relative to section 13 to differently inclined positions, the head portions 20 and 21 of the sheet will always remain in their closely fitted condition about the head sections of the mattress.

FIG. 6 shows at 62 a different type of covering for the mattress of FIG. 1, and typically taking form of a mattress pad, having a main horizontal portion 63 covering the top of main section 13 of the mattress, and having two head portions 64 and 65 extending over and about the head sections 11 and 12 of the mattress. Across the entire upper side of the mattress, the pad 62 may be quilted or otherwise padded, with the head portions 64 and 65 being adapted to swing upwardly and downwardly relative to main portion 63 as discussed in connection with FIG. 1. At all three sides of each of the head sections 11 and 12 of the mattress, the head portions 64 and 65 of the pad may have downwardly extending side or edge panels 66, which may be formed of an unpadded piece of cloth as in the first form of the invention. The corners 67, 68, 69, and 70 of the pad 62 are fitted in the same manner as the corresponding corners 34, 35, 36, and 37 of FIG. 1, and have elastic at their lower edges as shown in FIG. 4. Also, elastic bands 71 and 72 may be provided in the same manner illustrated at 56 and 57in FIG. 2. In the FIG. 6 arrangement, the main portion 63 of the mattress pad, corresponding to portion 19 of FIG. 1, may extend across only the upper side of the main section of the mattress, and not have vertical panels fitting the sides and end of the mattress, but be retained in position at the foot end of the mattress only by two elastic bands 73 and 74 each connected at its opposite ends 75 to two of the edges of the top portion 63 near one of the corners, with each of the straps 73 extending downwardly at 76 and then across the underside of the corner portion of the mattress at 77 in retaining relation.

In addition to the illustrated sheet of FIG. 1 and the mattress pad of FIG. 6, there may also be formed in accordance with the invention a mattress cover, which may be provided for reception under the sheet of FIG.

l, and be of essentially the same construction as the sheet of FIG. 1. It is also contemplated that a similar cover may be provided for a box spring having a double head section structure corresponding to that of the mattress of the figures.

While certain specific embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed as typical, the invention is of course not limited to these particular forms, but rather is applicable broadly to all such variations as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A fitted covering for a mattress having a main section and at least two head sections mounted to swing upwardly to an inclined position relative to said main section, said mattress having generally curved corners, said covering including a single sheet of material adapted to extend across the upper side of said mattress and the head sections thereof, said sheet having elongated edge panels turned downwardly at the periphery thereof to fit each of the peripheral edges of the mattress, said panels having terminal transverse spaced apart ends, with the edges of said sheet between said spaced apart ends being arcuately curved to provide corner areas, at least some of said terminal ends projecting beyond said corner areas in correspondence therewith and being stitched thereto whereby said corner areas closely fit the curved corners of said mattress.

2. A fitted covering as recited in claim 1, including elastic at two head corner areas of each head portion of the covering for retaining the covering on the mattress at those corners.

3. A fitted covering as recited in claim 1, wherein the edge panels on the head sections thereof terminate short of the juncture between said sections, and an ad ditional edge panel extending along the edges of and between said head sections in the juncture therebetween and is stitched thereto so as to extend downwardly therefrom and to be generally coextensive with said other edge panels.

4. A fitted cover as recited in claim 3, wherein said additional edge panel is separate from said covering.

5. A fitted covering as recited in claim 1, wherein strap means extends across the underside of said mattress near the juncture of said head sections to connect together two portions of said covering at opposite sides of said mattress sections and thereby hold the covering tightly down against the mattress near said juncture during said swinging movement of said head sections. I 

1. A fitted covering for a mattress having a main section and at least two head sections mounted to swing upwardly to an inclined position relative to said main section, said mattress having generally curved corners, said covering including a single sheet of material adapted to extend across the upper side of said mattress and the head sections thereof, said sheet having elongated edge panels turned downwardly at the periphery thereof to fit each of the peripheral edges of the mattress, said panels having terminal transverse spaced apart ends, with the edges of said sheet between said spaced apart ends being arcuately curved to provide corner areas, at least some of said terminal ends projecting beyond said corner areas in correspondence therewith and being stitched thereto whereby said corner areas closely fit the curved corners of said mattress.
 2. A fitted covering as recited in claim 1, including elastic at two head corner areas of each head portion of the covering for retaining the covering on the mattress at those corners.
 3. A fitted covering as recited in claim 1, wherein the edge panels on the head sections thereof terminate short of the juncture between said sections, and an additional edge panel extending along the edges of and between said head sections in the juncture therebetween and is stitched thereto so as to extend downwardly therefrom and to be generally coextensive with said other edge panels.
 4. A fitted cover as recited in claim 3, wherein said additional edge panel is separate from said covering.
 5. A fitted covering as recited in claim 1, wherein strap means extends across the underside of said mattress near the juncture of said head sections to connect together two portions of said covering at opposite sides of said mattress sections and thereby hold the covering tightly down against the mattress near said juncture during said swinging movement of said head sections. 